National Party warns against 18th Amendment's reversal

NP president terms the amendment victory of democratic forces


Mohammad Zafar February 10, 2019
Former Balochistan chief minister Abdul Malik Baloch. PHOTO: EXPRESS

QUETTA: National Party (NP) President Abdul Malik Baloch has said that reversal of the 18th Constitutional Amendment would create disturbance in the country and affect the provinces’ trust in the federal government.
“Today undemocratic powers are attempting to reverse the 18th Constitutional Amendment that is the only hope for small provinces like Balochistan to get their rights from the Centre,” he said while delivering a lecture to students of the law faculty of the University of Turbat on Friday.
It was Pakistan Peoples Party which after strenuous efforts introduced the amendment and restored provincial rights, Malik said, adding, “The democratic forces in the country excluded unconstitutional amendments introduced by dictator General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.”
The former chief minister also said that during the process, his party proposed transfer of all subjects to the provincial level except finance, defence, and foreign affairs. But no one paid any heed to the demand, he maintained.

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Malik further said the country has a dreadful constitutional history as after independence it was governed under the 1935 Government of Indian Act for nine years.

Pakistan is a federation comprising Baloch, Punjabi, Sindhi and Pashtuns, he said, adding that all nations have their own cultural value but unfortunately after independence “we pursued policies denying the rights of nations”.

He said, “Nations living on their own soil for centuries were kept deprived of the benefits pledged in the country’s constitution, thus various experiments in the country turned Pakistan into a hub of problems.”

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